I don’t even remember when I first watch the Dr. I worked with someone sometime between 1975-1984 who watched the Dr. on public TV in the US. When I signed up for Dish Network with BBC-America, I discovered the Dr. and I think Chris Eccleston was the 1st Dr. I saw. I was finally warming up to Peter Capaldi and now he is gone. I will miss his guitar playing. I haven’t watch Dr. Whoette yet (LOL) and am wondering how regeneration can change an XY into an XX. Ya’ll have a goodern.

@juniperfish … as a child who was definitely wired differently, I really wanted a hero to evoke that quality of “it’s OK to be your own wild self”. Sadly, it was the 50s and 60s, across the pond in the US and mostly we had westerns and cop shows. Well, then there was Star Trek… and Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and other science fiction and fantasy that I loved, but…

I didn’t even hear of Doctor Who until I grew into fandom in the late 70s, after high school. I did sci-fi conventions, living history (they’re all fans) and collected a like-minded set of friends. Friends who had more than one channel on the TV talked about Doctor Who, someone gave me an insanely loooooooooooong scarf (still have it), explained tardi, tardises, tardigrades (what even IS a police call box???? in America we got these phone things on the desk with a round dial thing that goes brrrrrrring!)… and somewhere along the line I got to watch random episodes as a kind of weird wonderful vacation from the mundane.

Eventually I got a computer, then a better one, then one connected to the internet. Yes, I do live in the dark ages, and I can swing a sword and row/sail a Viking Longship (longshipco.org Oakley MD USA), paddle a kayak, train a mustang, and sled dogs (they’re all on my website, swordwhale.com). But I will converse like a mariner at any technology unfortunate enough to fall into my path.

I watched the odd Doctor Who episode (largely Ten and Eleven, they’re great) at friends’ houses, wishing I could catch more…

and then… wonder of wonders…

OH HEY YOU CAN BUY THIS ON AMAZON!!!!!

I watched the entire run of Capaldi there. I adore the grumpy old wizard. Then he regenerated and…

OMG THIS IS THE HERO I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE I WAS SIX!!!!

Somewhere in an interview Jodi Whitaker talks about being a kid and all the cool characters who were having adventures were boys.

YES! That’s how it was in the 50s, and the 60s, and the 70s… all the cool characters I watched growing up were boys! OK, it was fun to crush on the cute heroes but, geeeeeeeeeeeeez… WHERE ARE THE GIRLS I CAN RELATE TO?????

Now, female heroes are not so uncommon anymore, in the Marvel universe, in Star Wars and Star Trek and other things I loved as a kid. Even the Hobbit produced the very character (or at least a close clone) I’d played for years in D&D and living history (red-headed girl Elven archers were my usual character).

But the 13th Doctor is one I wish I’d had as a kid, running forward into potential danger with curiosity, pluck, and a huge sense of childlike wonder. Someone who can unpuzzle the puzzle, who isn’t a fighting warrior but saves the day, who is quirky and odd and understands fairness and justice.

Now where can I get that T-shirt.

@phaseshift …that is hysterical! And utterly imaginative, turning other toys into Doctor Who figures. And yes, I still collect various figures related to my favorite stories (digs through thrift shop plushie bin, oh no this Minion/Dory/Stitch/Bilbo is for my dog/niece/cousin’s kid…).

PS: the East Berlin PA (USA) library is a wonderful place where I can borrow DVDs for free…

They have Doctor Who: Lost in Time, Collection of Rare Episodes

It’s several William Hartnell episodes from 1963 to 1966 (when I was 8 to 11 years old). A couple episodes are audio only, which is odd, because you have to imagine the action, and it is not an “audio book” with description, just the audio from the TV episode.

Interesting how much the show has changed from its beginnings. That is its beauty though, it can regenerate, shift, with time and the surrounding culture. The show itself travels through time and is always relevant, fresh and new.

Haven’t been with the Doctor anywhere near as long as most of you. Couldn’t make out the dialog (I’m hard of hearing) until I finally woke up and put the closed captioning on. Then I watched the BBC American 2015 Christmas marathon for hours on end, and I’ve been hooked ever since! I’ve seen all the AG episodes, and some of the BG as I can.

The funny thing is, I blogged some about my new enthusiasm, and my best friend growing up emailed me and told me I was an idiot, he’d tried to get me to watch decades ago! Better late than never…

I ‘remember’ Tom Baker being the ‘best Doctor’, but as I was born in 1978, I suspect it’s more that I was told he was the best but probably didn’t see any of it other than clips until I started watching DVDs in 2005! Well, apart from the Doctor and Romana punting on the river Cam!

My clearest memory is Peter Davison regenerating, which was quite shocking. Watching Caves of Androzani back now it seems baffling how a six year old could watch it. I remember Trial of a Time Lord and by Season 26 I was watching religiously.

Hi @ltia – thanks so much for sharing your memories of your first Doctor (which are similar to mine!).

Don’t worry that the forum seems to be talking about weather/ horticulture/ ear worms or best decade of music (apologies) – I’m sure everyone here loves to have new members diving in, being brave enough to say “hi” and basically getting involved.

Did you see the most recent series?
Did you Like it?
Its ok to say “no” to either of those questions – the great thing about this place (at least for me) is that reading others’ thoughts helps me understand why I liked or didn’t like an episode, due to writing or production or a better understanding of my own sensibilities etc.

And even if conversation of this series dries up then we’ve still got favourite doctors, favourite companions, discussions about Time and morality and ethics and… well, we’ll always have the music!

@whisht For me the new series started out quite strong and had a couple of brilliant moments, but nowhere near enough. By the end, there was a general feeling of ‘meh’ for me. It’s strange that they’ve cut beck on how much they are making to keep the quality up but it felt kind of rushed. Not changing the companions clothing for different eras was strange. Plus I don’t think it was different enough to previous ‘new-Who’. Not the worse season by any means, but I was hoping for a big change.

But when Yas was used she was a great companion and I was actually worried about Graham’s character (I hate the celebrity-Who thing) but he was brilliant form the start. Much like the early RTD stuff but with a bit more weight. Killing off a character at the start was really good. Episodes 3, 6 and 8 were excellent, classic Who.